Classes

Events

About swing

Swing dance includes various dance styles such as the Lindy Hop, the Balboa, the Shag etc. danced to swing music.

The History of the Lindy Hop

As the jazz music and jazz dance entered the 1930s, that craze wave had started becoming what would be generally called “swing.” The Lindy Hop was the big “in” dance and was starting to slowly spread across the United States from its origin at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, New York.

After the end of World War II, both swing music and the Lindy Hop quickly began to fade away. One of Lindy’s decendant dances, East Coast Swing, was being adapted for the new Jump Blues music (which lead into early Rock & Roll in the 1950s). But by the end of the ’50s, partnered dancing (which included all the swing dances) nearly died out completely with The Twist (a dance which could be danced by oneself).

In the early 1980s, two California dancers, and a group from Sweden sought out any surviving Lindy Hop dancers and had them teach them how the dance was done. They, in turn, began teaching others. By the mid-1990s, a fairly large number of new Lindy Hop dancers had grown which lead to a swing revival that lasted from 1997 to the early 2000s. Classic styled swing jazz music came back with it.

At present, the Lindy hop is very popular almost in every country. Swing camps focusing on Lindy hop, Balboa, Shag, Authentic Jazz, Blues, Boogie-woogie etc. are happening across the whole world every weekend, teaching thousands of people how to swing.

Swing dancing disappeared in Czech Republic after World War II. During the 90’s things changed after the film Swing Kids was released which featured professional dancers from Prague who were taught some of the basic steps during the filming. These dancers continued learning the dance and continued to teach in Prague.

Nowadays, you can see Lindy hop dancers swinging out on streets to live bands, partying in bars to their favorite swing music or learning and teaching all across the Czech republic.